...Prospero Ano Novo-Happy New Year-Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Olá everyone,




No tropical New Year greetings this time...Instead some "freezing ones" from cold cold Belgium! "Bonne année!" "Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!"

New Year I spent in... multicultural Brussels at a real balkan gypsy concert and party in "Les Halles de Schaerbeek" (the venue alone is worthy the visit)...A night of crazy dancing, with my Slavic roots I felt completely at home...It was also a night of killing "saudades" in company of one of my best friends...And no need to say that it felt again very surrealistic, this time however to be back in "my" Brussels...(I guess surrealism is one of those very typical characteristics of "being Belgian")


I have to admit, the reverse culture shock-to my own surprise- hasn't been so big...but still, the occasions I have been feeling like coming from Mars are numerous, the shock to see the abundance in the supermarkets and shops remained, the banality of many people's complaints and worries difficult to deal with,...


Another shock, from a totally different kind, I felt was when a Brussels shopkeeper, after I had asked him at two occasions to serve me with some Turkish feta cheese and with some raisin, replied to me in a rather severe and annoyed way as follows: "Madame, vous pouvez vous servir vous-même!"("Miss, you can serve yourself!"). Perhaps his unfriendly tone was partially due to the fact it was the first of January (maybe he was suffering from some head ache:)), but basically it reflected more his incomprehensiveness toward my "inactive " attitude in the shop, my natural expectation to be served,...Suddenly I realized I had become used to the Mozambican WHITE and/OR RICH lifestyle of being served. I remember my first impressions upon arrival in Maputo, how "disgusting" I found it to see how whites (and rich Mozambicans) were being served upon their request (or even before...). I remember how shocking I found it to see how people had black "empregadas" ("domestica" in Brazil, housekeeping staff)working totally in function of them and black "guards" who were not only guards but also boys opening the gates, washing the cars, carrying your shopping, throwing away your rubbish, etc. And of course this pattern of "submission" or extreme servility was duplicated in commercial and administrative settings as well...People from anglo-saxon countries might protest against my too radical stance here, pinpointing to the excellent client service in their respective countries (where being served forms simply part of the service you deserve as a client), but to me it remains difficult to make abstraction of the colonial not so far away history,during which the minority of the whites (now: minority of rich) were served by the majority of black (now: majority of poor). To observe the way Moz society is structured seems-I can't help it- o so neo-colonialistic...But...I also know, that employing a guard, employing an empregada we, the whites and rich ones (and yes, you read it well, me too, I 'stepped' into the system) we create employment, we give people a very needed living...The latter is the very recurrent excuse you hear to legitimize the hiring of local staff, i.e. a means to help people survive, study, etc. But the other side of the coin, the fact you can "hire" somebody for plus/minus 25 Euros/month (=minimum wage), you earning western wages (and often even much higher salaries than if doing the same job at home)isn't being highlighted that often...nor the fact that it enables us, the whites, to have a very comfortable life...And I agree, paying local people according to our western standards would mean a 'distortion' of the local economy BUT HEY, are OUR salaries no distortion of their economy (cf. post-conflict countries with high UN and international NGO presence)??? Who is mainly frequenting restaurans like Mundo's, who is paying 1500 USD for a three bedroom appartment in Maputo, who is shopping in Polana Shopping Centre, who is swimming in the swimming pool of Club Naval (2.5 USD for one swimming), who is paying almost 2 Euros for a liter of fruit juice (Christmas prices!)???
I have to add, very rapidly, that my analysis might be incorrect, as I am very new to the country and I haven't really "scientifically studied" the society. And, as already referred to above, this phenomenon, I am afraid is not unique to Mozambique...And, more importantly, it is always easy to "denounce" a situation (like I am doing here), but I have to admit that looking for solutions for a more just division of assets and goods would be probably more preferrable...
In any case, I am very keen to read reactions to this blog...

Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas and...

Christmas 2007 in Maputo, a surrealistic happening...it was a multicultural and very tropical feast, with some home made"vodka" from Galicia (Spain) (aiaiaiai!) , some Spanish "turrón" and a mixture of different nationalities...

The pics speak for themselves...

Thanks to Sandra for the beautiful collage!!!

Strongbaaite! Força!

UPDATED (FINALLY:))

Keywords blog: half marathon, addictions, South Africa, Italian trainers-painters-musicians and too many painful hills...please find the link yourself:)

Hi everybody and especially runners-friends!

Before departure to Mozambique I had-I have to admit-only one big worry: will I be able to satisfy my addiction?:) Living without luxury, on rice and some vegetables, in a tropical heat,...I knew wouldn´t be a problem for me...except for...a life without running...For a non-runner this sounds very weird (maybe some of you already want to send me to some psychiatric clinic:)), but just try to compare it to a life without coffee, cigarettes, sex and rock and roll...guess would be also hard to kick off from for some of you, isn´t it?:)

Well, great was my surprise when I found out that Maputo is a very western style city where you can find almost everything (ok,ok, not the 100 kinds of shampoos-but hey, a smaller choice really FACILITATES life, surely for a person like me having difficulties to make choices:), neither a gorgonzala cheese, but instead we have here delicious sea food, good coffee, ice cream, excellent Portuguese and Southafrican wines, and the more!!! -OF COURSE this is only affordable to us, the xpats and the ´creme de la creme´among the Mozambicans-later more on this).

My surprise even grew when I bumped-by coincidence- into some runners here in Mozambique! Pasquale being the most particular and ´amaizing´one...Over 60 years (am I right, Pasquale?), this Italian is a real hard core runner (and painter, see pic and musician and person-with-big heart and...), who inter alia has run the Comrade, a hundred (!) kilometer run in South Africa in mountain area!!! (isn´t this a nice idea for my DCLA runners-mates?! a nice reason to come to visit me here!) and several marathons. In his previous life he served as a UN peacekeeper in various countries and ended up living in the country of his last mission. As a very dedicated runner-with-a-big-heart he is also the trainer of a very small athletics club in Maputo and training some excellent Mozambican (real) athletes (inter alia Seena, see pictures!). Pasquale helped to introduce me in the runner´s world here and thanks to him I ran my first half marathon in Maputo three months ago...a real experience...

The pictures here above, however, don't refer to my Mozambican running experiences, instead they were taken after an extremely hard half marathon we ran in South Africa (full of hills!) , just across the border. What a contrast with the Moz "corridas"! Starting SHARP, being over-organized, furnishing the runners with water and food along the way, marking the exact kilometers,...it seemed so unreal, so totally different from how things go in Maputo. Starting hours(!) late in the biggest "confusão" you can imagine, in a company of fellow runners, most of them being barefoot or wearing normal "shoes", not getting water along the way (as organizors often steal the available drinks), ...Fraude is also very common in Mozambique, with runners being picked-up by car after a kilometer or two, and then, at the end, you can see them, proudly, not sweating nor exhausted(of course!), receiving the prize...The latter can end up in some swearing and shouting and angry reactions, but people tend to "accept" and let things happen as they happen...(Money)Prizes are very important to the runners, and often the only motivation to run...Some of the runners I talked to try to make their living out of these street corridas...(Would this just be one example, one symptom of some major problems Mozambican society is facing?)But...taken everything together, I really do enjoy Mozambican corridas, as they are a FEAST, with people shouting "força!" along the way (in South African the word seemed to be "strongbaaite", but nobody deemed it necessary to encourage us...), co-runners chatting, dancing, singing,...Moreover, it surprised me as well how "white" and "segregated" the half marathon in South Africa had been, and this in contrast to Maputo where I am often the only white lady running in the Moz street runs...

Valencia-Casa do Gaiato:1-1?

Boa noite,

This time I decided to let the pictures speak for themselves...the impressions of last Saturday's excursion to Boane (at one hour distance from here), more concretely to a village where the orphanage, Casa do Gaiato, is located, are just too overwhelming...not that we ended up visiting the orphanage itself ( a pity, I must say!!! I definitely still want to go there!), but instead we went to the 'inauguration' of a new football field (try to imagine the Ambassador of Spain kicking off a game between the village/orphanage people and the Valenciano group we had met two days ago and all this in a killing heat!:)) and a fair exhibiting agricultural and other products the local community was producing in projects mainly supported by the Spanish Cooperation here in Mozambique. Eventhough the whole morning and afternoon was a great example of Mozambican happiness and party spirit (people were dancing, singing and lauging non-stop and 'en masse'- something we found impossible to imagine to happen in a random European village...), the HIV/AIDS 'ghost' was never very far away..."Remember", "we are all seropositive until the contrary has been proven", were painted in dark red at the walls of the surrounding houses...Sitting on the ground, I found myself surrounded by a whole bench of kids watching a very educative theatre play. Amidst this colourful spectacle with even more colourful spectators, women wearing capulana of all kinds of colours, kids hanging at mum's breast drinking thirsty, boys playing with wheel and stick (the o so (stereo) typical image of Africa!) and so much more, I suddenly got struck, or better shocked by the image of the little boy (5 years?) sitting right in front of me...his eyes were 'dead', sweat pearls dropping from his face, his head falling down, very slowly, like if he were to fall asleep (or loose consciousness?) at any moment...Alarmed I drew Sergio's (one of the sweetest and most humble down-to-earth doctors I ever met in my life!) attention to the kid and asked him to verify whether I was not just 'panicking'...but no,no, the kid was ill, definitely with fever, and Sergio gave him water, a neighbour woman refreshed his face and Sergio asked the boy's friends to take him home, something they did...I remained seated, confused, feeling powerless, trying to imagine the kid's living conditions, his chances to be cured (to survive?), trying to avoid the thought he had Aids or malaria, and hoping he had 'just' one of those 'normal' diseases every kid has once in a while. However, the latter resulted difficult with slogans like "Remember" and "We are all seropositive until the opposite has been proven" right in front of my eyes...Imagine you see those kids on a daily basis appearing in your office...I am afraid I would be too 'softie' to deal with that..."Chapeau" for those who are doing!

Enjoy the pictures and...remember...

beijinhos,
Katarina,xxx.

Sandra and Sergio walking-dancing

Remember

"We are all seropositive until the contrary has been proven."

Kapulana, the typical skirt

Happy girls, asking me to take a picture...

Why men should stick to one woman...

Swaziland, "find the crocodile!" :)

In my previous posting I already talked about senhor Miguel, well this time I'ld like to introduce senhor Mambo to you. Senhor Mambo is the taxidriver who I see most of the times, he is used to work with cooperation people, and thus knows more or less the places I need to go to...(it happens often that I (!) have to look on the map and to explain where this or that institution (and even street) is to be found). Moreover, he is plus/minus reliable, in 90 percent of the cases he arrives at the hour we agreed upon (his boss, I call him 'xefe', tends to forget me quite often and tries to make up for this by flirting and saying things every woman wants to hear like "you are such a sweet woman" , "you are so special, really unique", and "you are so beautiful", and of course (!) I can't be angry with him:)), but sometimes things still can go wrong...Like last week. He had dropped me at an organization, and when I sent him a sms asking me to come to pick me up, he called me to say he was already waiting for me. Big was my surprise when I went outside and I didn't see him anywhere...When I called him to ask him where he was he said he was 'coming' ("ha de vir"- the verbal construction " ha de+infinitive" is a very frequently used one:) and refers to a kind of uncertain and far away future...), but me and my colleague from Spanish cooperation have been waiting for him for another 15 minutes...Apparently, according to him, he had been waiting for me in front of the institution where he had dropped me the day before...And again, even without the sweet words, I just couldn't be upset with him, senhor Mambo being such a sweetie himself...Let me tell you some anecdotes to illustrate this...
Some weeks ago I went on a mission to Lilongwe (capital of Malawi) for one week; upon arrival senhor Mambo (around 55 years old or even more) came to pick me up and the first thing he said was (and really, this sounded very genuine): "tive saudades de voce" ("I was missing you", but as said, 'ter saudades' means much more than only 'missing')...After a week of hotel and being outside Maputo, I couldn't have had any warmer 'welcome' than this...

During that same taxitrip from the airport to my house, we started chatting about polygamy in Mozambique-the latter still exists, and surely more in the northern and rural areas of Mozambique. Well, according to senhor Mambo, it is totally clear that to sleep with more than one woman explains the reason why polygamic men tend to live less time than monogamic men: "they are just much faster burnt-out and 'used' ('usado') than monogamic men". I had difficulties not to burst out in laughing, but I fortunately controlled myself and told him I found his theory very interesting...But, he might be right, but for another reason, when one is not talking about polygamy stricto senso but in the sense of having several partners... In a country where the HIV/AIDS-prevalence is extremely high, where around 16% of the population is infected, (this percentage is depending inter alia on province and age and can thus be much higher), sleeping with several partners can perhaps lead to a quicker death...Moreover, the use of condoms, even though it is being encouraged by NGO's, international organizations and government, isn't as widespread as one would ideally want...
Later, already at home, I remained with a question:"Senhor Mambo, and what about 'polygamic' women? Is there also risk of a shorter life?" I am not sure but perhaps this is more of a taboo than the looser sexual lifestyle man can have here in Mozambique. Need to read and talk more about this subject in order to be able to share this with you...boa noite...

Planning LIFE in Mozambique...

At World Press Photo 2007 with Spanish Sergio and Sandra



Planning Life at Night and Day

I don't think I ever would have expected-before yesterday- to go to the opening of the World Press Photo 2007 exhibition in the old fortress in downtown Maputo (organized by the Dutch Embassy as apparently World Press Photo is a Dutch non-profit organization) , to end up having dinner with up to 20 (!)Valencianos (on a 'developing country experience' holiday or something like that) and go dancing afterwards in Africa Bar on Mozambican and other vibes (today I have got a day off!), and all this on the same evening...But all this is possible, here in Maputo, nothing is ever planned beforehand, invitations kind of fall from heaven,...Nice, very nice, surely for a person like me, who lives the day as it comes...Don't think I already met here with a person who knows what he/she will be doing 'next week'...Let alone next month or even next year...How different from how my home country is organized, socially and professionally...
The last years, surely in my functions as coordinator, I really did efforts and by miracle managed to learn to plan and organize, at least in my professional life (I even urprised some friends who hadn't seen me for a while:)) ...I am afraid those skills will water down, as here, meetings, seminars, ...are mostly only announced the day before or even the day itself (there is no need for a lot of 'stimulation' of this rather Slovak characteristic of mine:)). The latter means you need to re-schedule very often, you have to cancel a lot, but also that you end up working often much more than you would have 'planned'...and yes, improvisation skills are a good quality:) And for a good understanding: this way of working is not only Mozambican, but also very xpat!



Planning Vida Nova
One of the taxi drivers I am often relying upon clearly also had lived a radical change in 'plans' after his wife gave birth two weeks ago... Miguel is one of the four taxidrivers belonging to a company my organization has made a contract with and I am thus relying upon for my transport to meetings in town. Miguel is always rather sad (he always replies he is "mais o menos-more or less" when I ask him " Tudo bem?-How are you", with the accent on 'menos') , which is remarkable as most Mozambicans I have known until now I would describe as be it "carpe diem" or be it very calm and peaceful. Yesterday he showed me suddenly a picture of his newborn kids... twins... 'a casal', a couple, boy and girl thus...Of course I congratulated him, but I expressed my surprise about the fact it were twins (as I didn't remember him telling him his wife was expecting twins...). His laconic reaction: "Me too, I didn't know. I only found out when my sister called me from the hospital to congratulate me with the birth of my twins." Apparently nor his wife had felt she was carrying twins in her belly for nine months and according to his story they only found out when the nurse still felt/saw 'something' after the first kid had exited the mother's belly...A nice example how Mozambican reality suddenly struck me, me rushing from one meeting to another meeting, meetings to discuss health policies and others here in Mozambique...Miguel told me they didn't have money for echographies and they thus in reality hadn't gone to see a doctor...What a difference with Belgium (and I am sure the rest of the 'West') where pregnant women have to see-in my humble opinion, even though I am not a mother- doctors at way too many occasions, where mothers get instructions to do this and especially NOT that in order to prevent this or that...Don't understand me wrongly, of course, I am not criticising our health system, but the HUGE contrast between an OVER-organized health care system and an almost non-existant (and if existant often non-affordable; a tourist told me lately she had paid 300 USD for an emergency consultation due to an allergy at a private doctor's here...) one means often the difference between death and life.... And of course this is only one example (in a paradoxical way of the contrary, of an extra unexpected baby) , and no, I wasn't surprised, and yes, of course I am informed about the Mozambican dramatic state of health system (that's one of the reasons why I am working here), ...Moreover I am sure the doctors here, working in the field in the provinces, would be able to tell you a lot more stories; this -even rather positive news story- was just meant as an illustration... and also an illustration of how I may not forget to (go to) see the reality behind the relatories and documents on neo-natal and maternal health (one of the biggest problems in health) I am discussing and studying on a daily basis in XYZ meetings...

Kisses, Katarina.

P.S. For more pictures, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14251318@N06/

About gorgeous aerobics teachers in Mozambique and other things...

Running environment...

Boa noite friends and family,


Wasn't it for my very good friend Aagje, I don't think I would have ever tried to bother to find out how to create a blog...During our two hours Skype conversation (the inventor of Skype deserves a statue!) yesterday night, she really convinced me to 'write down' my experiences, impressions I am undergoing here in Maputo...Even though I protested a bit (the intensity of my life makes it just impossible to describe everything), I realised she might be right. As always?:) Perhaps it is also a way to kill 'saudades' (one of the most beautiful words Portuguese language is rich, the simplified notion of 'nostalgia', 'homesickness;, 'missing' handicaps the word- I am asking here my Freund Jose in Lisboa to provide me again with his great definition of the word...faz favor:)) and to "estar juntos" in the adventure I am living here...

After almost of three months working and living in Mozambique, Maputo, I feel perhaps more able to write this blog, as I 'calmed down' a bit, and the extreme excitement has been replaced by an intense, curious, deep desire to get to know this country and its inhabitants better. Instead of being exhaustive this blog will instead highlight upon some of the lived moments more in detail...At the same time I will also try to share my current (critical) thoughts regarding north-south related issues here in Mozambique...

I intentionally chose to write in English as I want to share this also with my hermanita and soulmate Natalia, my Portuguese friends, and other friends I met across language borders... At the same time however this will be a handicap as I master my native language much better and I am afraid I will fall into repetition when choosing my vocabulary...

Well, time to sleep, my bio-rythm is here much more in line with the African sun than it ever has been before...waking up almost daily (except for the weekends!) at 5.20 am to go running for an hour with Japanese Fumiko and Peruvian Fernando , it is always THE experience of the day, difficult to put in words...the humid-hot air, the sea breeze, the salt on your skin (isn't that also the title of a famous book?:)) , the sun appearing above the sea (even though it is often also covered), the fishermen always busy with nets and traditional boats, the first cars, the other running and walking people, the 20 women following aerobics instructions from a gorgeous teacher (him surely being the ONLY reason of them waking up at 5.00 am to be waving with arms like fools:)) on the footpath near my house, the deep red sand where there is no footpath, the suffering of climbing up the hills, the political and cultural discussions with the two F's (yes, even in that tired and often exhausted shape!), the running scheme in preparation to run a half marathon which we are not sticking to :) and the excuses we always find not to do 'accelerations' or an extra minute,...
There is no better way to kick off your day and to remain with both feet on the ground in this part of the world. The latter is needed, an example could be the fact how my position as a 'white' person in Southern Africa lifted me, from the moment I put foot on this beautiful ground, quite some levels higher than I would have been in my home continent (and this with many consequences.)..And this just because of the colour of my skin...An other example could be the political character of my current job (but I am afraid I won't be able to expand upon that one). But on seap bubbles, schizophrenia, Mia Couto, reflections upon French Revolution ideals and the universality (?) of human rights, the content of "nao" (="no" ) in Mozambican Portuguese, etc. you will certainly read more in my next postings...

Hope to read from you too, (critical) comments very very welcome and no need to say: "mi casa (even though it is my office as well...) tu casa"...

um beijo muito muito forte,
boa noite,
Katarina.